Paul Ebersbach and Betsey Boughton share conservation stories during the 75th anniversary celebration of Archbold Biological Station. Ebersbach is retired environmental chief at Avon Park Air Force Range. Boughton is assistant research biologist at MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center, a part of Archbold Expeditions.

Romona Washington/News-Sun

Interns, both past and present, mingled with supporters, volunteers and research scientists at Archbold Biological Station's 75th anniversary.

Romona Washington/News-Sun

Jenna Boyer shows no fear in touching this Florida pine snake being held by Lee Andrus. Florida pine snakes live in the flatlands, eat rodents and can grow to be as long as 7 1/2 feet long. This female snake is 13 years old and is only 5 feet long.

By ROMONA WASHINGTON

Publisher/Executive Editor

Text Size:

LAKE PLACID –– It was an evening of numbers.

First there was 1941, “the year Richard Archbold, famed aviator and explorer, founded Archbold Biological Station, an ancient scrub ridge in the headwaters of the Everglades.”

Then there was 271,000. That’s the number of Florida plant, arthropod, bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian and fish specimens in Archbold’s Natural History Collection. It is one of the largest of any field station in the world.

There was 487. “The number of student interns who have completed research at Archbold,” meeting and working alongside leading scientists in the field.

Richard Archbold’s nephew, Jack Hufty, was there for the celebration. Archbold’s great-niece, Schellie Archbold, flew in from New York for the event.

Dr. Hilary Swain, the Station’s executive director, welcomed those who gathered, saying one of the things that Richard Archbold used to say is that one will “fall in love with the area and never really leave. They just never really sever that umbilical cord.”

Swain had members of the audience raise their hands to note the decade in which they first visited the Station. They ranged from David Rinald, who lived at the Station with his parents back in the 1940s, to the 20 or so interns who arrived just this year. Former interns also flew in from as far away as Texas and California to help celebrate the Station’s diamond anniversary.

Several from the staff stepped up and shared even more numbers with the crowd.

Dr. Reed Bowman, associate research biologist and director of the Avian Ecology Program, talked about the 20-year long scrub jay project and the more than 200 research papers his team has written.

There was talk of the palm trees that have been on the property for more than 5,000 years and the 19 federally listed threatened and endangered species found at Archbold, and the 88 new species described by Station scientists.

“This is one of the most precious areas in the nation, not just in Florida. Every day we learn something new. We have not only been good for the past 75 years, but we are going to be great for the next 75 years,” Swain said.

She closed the celebration with an invitation for visitors to share in the anniversary cake and take a behind-the-scenes tour of the labs. Even then, she reminded the crowd that the “real lab is out there,” pointing to the scrub area.